Voting-machine.



P'ATENTED JAN. 21, 1908.

B. T. SBBLYE. VOTING. MACHINE.

APPLIOLTION FILED FEB. 16, 1908.

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BYRON T. SEELYE, OF BLOOMINGTON, ILLINOIS.

VOTING-MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 21, 1908.

Application filed February 16, 1906. Serial No. 301,460.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, BYRON T. SEELYE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Bloomington, in the county of McLean and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Voting-Machines, of which the following is such a full, clear, and exact description as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use my said invention.

My invention relates to voting machines of the type shown and described 111 U. S. Patents Nos. 667,806 and 667,807 granted to WV. A. Swaren, February 12, 1901, in which are hown and described adjustable slides having )erforations through which balls may be deposited in ball receptacles underlying the slides.

In machines of this type the voting slides are separately movable inwardly or outwardly, and are operatively related to means whereby all of the slides may be simultaneously moved inwardly or outwardly. In this type of machines the effective operation of the machine depends largely on uniform simultaneous parallel movement ofthe slides.

The purpose of my invention is to provide means whereby the rack bars or equivalent evices by which the dropping slides are si- ..ul "n.eous ly moved may be accurately adas d to insure uniformity and parallelism of movement of the slides and to insure accurate registration of the perforations in the dropping slides, with the openings in the ball receptacles underlying the slides.

With this purpose in view my invention consists of the novel features of construction and combinations of parts shown in the annexed drawings to which reference is hereby made and hereinafter particularly described and finally recited in the claims.

Referring to the drawings, in which similar reference letters designate like parts in the several views: Figure 1.is a top plan of a voting machine embodying my improvements. Fig. 2.is a vertical transverse section on the line 2. 2. of Fig. 1. Fig. 3.is an enlarged detached side elevation of one of the segment-wheels and its adjusting device. Fig. 4.is an enlarged oblique vertical section on the line 1. 4. of Fig. 3. Fig. 5.is a vertical section on the line 5. 5. of Fig. 3.

A cabinet A or other suitable main structure has a plate A on which the dropping moving device.

slides B are mounted to slide parallel to each other. The slides B. have perforations I) through which balls may pass. 7

Ball receptacles D underlying the slides B respectively have openings cl, with which the perforations of the slides are registrable in a manner which is well known and need not be described here. Two-segmental cog-wheels E, are mounted on a horizontal shaft E which turns in suitable bearings e. Set screws 6 connect the wheels E with the shaft E Rack-bars F are mounted to slide horizontally in guides F on the cabinet and have teeth j, which mesh with the teeth on the segment-wheels E. A cross-bar G connects the rack bars F and engages with suitably placed pins t on the slides B to move the slides simultaneously outwardly. When the shaft E is turned forwardly the teeth of the segment-wheels meshing with the teeth of the rack bars cause the bars to move forwardly and push the slides outward.

In order that the perforations in the slides may accurately register with the openings in the underlying ball receptacles, the slides being exactly alike and having exactly the same perforations it is absolutely necessary that the slides move with perfect-uniformity and parallelism, otherwise one slide would have its perforations in proper registry with the openings in the corresponding ball box, while the perforations in another slide or slides might register im erfectly or not at all. To overcome this drliiculty is the prime purpose of my invention.

The adjusting plate H is secured on the shaft E by a set screw h, or equivalent securing device, one face of the adjusting plate being in contact with one face of the segment-wheel E. A bolt E on the wheel E, passes through a slot h in the plate H. Followers 7L2, in the slot h have concave ends which fit around the bolt E ing screws k bear against the outer ends of the followers, and by loosening one of the screws and tightening the other the followers may be moved to move the bolt E so as to cause such slight turning of the segment wheel E, on the shaft E as may be necessary to produce the desired adjustment of the segment-wheel and cause exactly the right travel of the rack bar or equivalent slide- A shield h covers the slot M, and excludes dirt and grit from the shit.

If desiredthe shield k, may be integral with one of the followers 71 without departing from my invention.

The operation of the device is as follows: If when the machine is assembled it is found that the slides, on one side of the machine, say on the right hand side, move outwardly somewhat beyond the slides on the left hand side of the machine; the adjustment will be as follows: To adjust the parts so as to cause exactly simultaneous movement of the slides, the setscrew c of the lefthand segment-wheelE, wil'l first be loosened to permit the segment wheel toturn on the shaft; the nut on the bolt E will then be loosened to permit movement of the bolt in the slot h one of the adjusting screws h", will then be loosened and the other adjusting screw will be turned to cause the end of the last named screw t'obear against and move the followers k so as to produce the desired movement of the segment-wheel E. The adjusting screws and" set screws will then all be tightened to secure the parts-in position, whereupon the device will be in condition for accurate operation.

Having fully described my invention, what I claimasnew anddesire'to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a voting machine, the combination of a cabinet, a rotatable shaft mounted in said cabinet, segment-wheels mounted and adapted to turnon said shaft means for securing said segment wheels on said shaft, a slotted adjusting plate secured to said shaft, a connecting device fitting in the slot of said plate and connecting the segmentwheel with the adjusting plate, means for ad usting said connecting device, rack bars operative by said segment wheels, a cross bar connecting said rack bars, perforated dropping slides operative by said cross bar,

and ball receptacles adapted to-receive balls BYRON T. sE'ELYE.

Witnesses:

E. F. MoCoLLIsTER, F. M. FoLLIcK. 

